Happy Mindset Monday!
The other day I woke up and started going through my morning routine when out of nowhere, these negative thoughts started creeping in, and got me into this frustrated, negative headspace. The most frustrating thing was that I had no idea what set this off. Regardless, there I was just an hour into my day, frustrated, annoyed and not wanting to do anything. I knew my productivity was going to be thrown off, which then pushed me further into a negative mindset. Ah, enter the negative feedback loop from hell.
We’ve all been there.
When this happens, you must do something to change your physiological state. What I mean by that is, you have to do something to either significantly increase or decrease your body temperature. I usually either go lift weights or go for a 20-minute walk or bike ride. This could be the simplest thing on earth, but it REALLY does work.
Here are some things you can do to change your internal state. Spoiler alert: most of them involve moving your body.
- Lift weights/strength train
- Go for a 20–30-minute walk/run
- Jumping jacks until you get out of breath
- Imaginary jump rope until you get out of breath
- Sit in the sauna or hot yoga
- Wall sit until you can’t anymore
- Pushups until you can’t anymore
- Squat hold until you can’t anymore
- Run your head under cold water
- Take a cold shower for 2 minutes
- Rock Climbing
- Boxing/martial arts
You might be thinking “I don’t have time to drop what I’m doing to do these things.”
Here’s why that is selfish.
First, most of those things only take a minute or two. Second, when you’re in this negative state, you’re in a negative energy mindset. When you have this negative energy, you end up projecting it out into the world. Do you think projecting negative energy is good for the people around you? No. The energy we project is a real thing. It’s no mystery when you run into someone who has had a bad day and is stuck in this energy. You have the power to either positively or negatively impact the people around you, and your energy is critical to this.
How can you possibly do good work as an employee, spouse, parent, friend, etc. when you’re in this negative state? You can’t. So when you think about it, you really don’t have time NOT to do one of these action items.
So, the next time this happens, it’s up to you to choose whether you want to stay there. Are you going to do one or a few of the actions listed above and start to feel the positive effects immediately, or are you going to be selfish and stay in a negative energy, ultimately negatively impacting everyone around you?
Don’t expect to be perfect here. The key is to start becoming mindful of what is going on and take action as soon as you can. You’ll feel better, the rest of the day will be productive, and you’ll continue to have a positive impact on those around you, rather than a negative one.
I hope this helps!
-Steve
